The Hummel Quest Origins
by HerrWeidner
Summary: The world's largest conflict is drawing to an end. In a desperate attempt to turn the tide of war, the German nation has built a weapon capable of destroying the allied armies. Officially recognized by autophagy.
1. Nuclear Memories

"How long must we stay in this pillbox?" I ask myself as I roll my treads back and forth in a stretch. My barrel swings to the left and then to the right to check on the bunkers under my care. "Achtung Kampfgruppe von Weidner, status update." I broadcast over my channel to the four bunkers in my sights. One by one they each signal back the all clear. "Get some sleep men." I said the term men loosely; most of them had barely graduated snipers school. Desperate times had called for desperate measures however; the defense needed every able tanker to protect our homeland.

Under my supervision were a Jagdpanzer IV, two Stugs, who happened to be brothers, and a Hetzer. My gaze drifted towards the Hetzer's bunker. "A tank that young shouldn't have to be out in this." I thought sadly. None of them should have. The only one I could rely on was the Jagdpanzer, he at least seemed to have a cool head. The Stugs were young and thought themselves invincible to the allies; their guns could knock them out with a single shot. The Hetzer though, my chassis drooped slightly in sadness, he knew he couldn't do anything. I could hear the fear in his voice at every report.

The allied juggernaut was approaching and there was nothing we could do. Once again I found myself thinking of happier times. Only four years past we were young and we were invincible, nothing could stop us. Nation after nation fell under our firepower and speed. Soon after our victories in the west our eyes turned east to the fertile open plains, it was there that we were destined to meet our downfall. The nation was shocked when a superior tanker appeared; my story, along with many others, began then. We were made to combat this new threat, and we succeeded. Our greed had been too great however, our forces were too thin and poorly prepared, the retreat began. Our superior firepower began to become overwhelmed by sheer numbers; to make matters worse their tankers were beginning to match our quality.

The allies were closing their vice around our last fortress; the Americans, British, and French in the east with the Soviets in the west. "I hope this wunderwaffe will end the war…" I mumble to myself quietly. No one was sure what this new weapon was, as far as we knew it was only a rumor. I was finding it quite hard to believe; a single weapon that could wipe out an entire army. A scoff of disgust escaped me; the only thing that I could trust on was my ammo. "At least it never disappoints me."

Not a moment after my comment the radio waves began to buzz with excitement. I couldn't believe what I heard, the American T57 himself was approaching! Quickly I aimed my sights at the slowly growing dot in the horizon. My doubt soon evaporated; there he was under a white flag, excitement began to grow in my engine. Here was our chance! The general of the entire western theater was exposing himself! My excitement was gradually being replaced with uneasiness in my fuel tanks. "What is he doing? Something doesn't feel right about this."

"Members of the German line!" His loudspeaker suddenly barked into life. "Surrender yourselves peacefully or be destroyed! There is nowhere left to retreat to, this is the end!" We were getting reports that the Soviet IS7 was announcing the same speech on our eastern front. Orders from high command were being passed down: «Load APCR and HEAT rounds. Hold until ordered.» It felt good to have a round in my breach again. "-ink of your families! Spare them from this unnecessary suffering." The T57's loudspeakers continued. "This mindless violence doesn't have to continue! You have been beaten. Admit defea-" His sentence was cut short, our own Jagdpanzer E-100 ended his life.

A cheer rang through the airwaves. "Achtung Kampfgruppe: Fire at will." I gave the command to my men. Tankers soon began to stream onto the plains towards our positions, spreading across the entire horizon. "And so it begins." I say while adjusting my aim towards a T29. The shot damaged his turret and I could see him lurch to a stop, his ammo had been hit. Suddenly the allied line began to retreat. Rather than cheer I began to look for their reason, we had not launched a counter attack. Something caught my sights, a single flying object coming right for us. My gears grinded in sudden nervousness, whatever that was it couldn't be good.

A tremendous roar engulfed the air; I could hear the cries of my Hetzer through the radio. Soon a similar white streak arched over our lines towards the allies. That couldn't have been a V-2 rocket, this was something much larger! Before I could focus on the lone rocket a second appeared. Word from high command confirmed all four rockets had been launched, two for each theater. Suddenly the world began to fall and I jumped from surprise. My bunker was lowering into the ground? What for? Darkness engulfed me, the radio was silent, all that could be heard was the dull roar from the rockets. The relative calmness exploded and I blacked out on impact.

"I couldn't tell you how long I was unconscious." I tell the silent E-25 and Jagdpanther. For once they didn't make a sound. "But when I did wake up… I woke up to this world." My barrel lowered in silent memory.

"You really were there?" The Jagdpanther asked in awe. "You were there when the bombs exploded?" He shared an uneasy glance with the E-25.

"Yes I was." My gaze fell upon them. "Let us pray it never happens again."


	2. Out of the Darkness

"So… What was the next thing you remember?" Siren asked. His voice sounded timid which surprised me; I had never heard him so down to earth before. My engine revved as I cleared my vents before continuing.

A blinding light woke me from my slumber. "It couldn't possibly be another bomb could it?" I thought as I squinted against the bright rays. Much to my relief it was only the setting sun. "Wait…" I began to reverse and soon my treads felt the soft earth beneath them. "I'm outside… My men!" I didn't even stop to think how I was outside, duty came first. As I rushed down the hill I saw that all but one bunker had lifted.

"Herr Weidner!" Came the shrill voice of the Hetzer. "You're alive! I'm so glad!" As the distance closed I saw the Hetzer, Jagdpanzer IV and Stug circling the still submerged bunker. "You have to help us! He's still not out!" The Hetzer motioned frantically at the ground. "He's still alive too, we can hear him tapping!" The Hetzer's frame was practically about to shake apart.

"Calm down men." I said as coolly as I could, my mind resuming its responsibility of Generalfeldmarschall. "Are there any reports of the enemy?" I asked with a wary glance down our defenses.

"Who the hell cares about the enemy!? My brother's in there!" The Stug shouted in anger. "What are we going to do!?"

I kept my demeanor as a plan quickly formed in my mind. "I know this is difficult son but you need to calm down." My barrel lowered itself down the hill warily and I continued. "You're the fastest of us, go to headquarters and report the bunker number. We'll get him out I promise." Not a moment had passed before he was already gone. I waited till I couldn't hear the sound of his tracks before turning to the other two, their figures were grim. I looked to the Jagdpanzer first. "You and I are going to recon for enemy movement." He lowered and raised his barrel in a salute. "And you-" I turned to the Hetzer. "Stay here and keep an eye on him." I glanced down to the bunker.

I lead the way slowly unsure of what would await us at the bottom of the hill. I noticed I wasn't the last one to emerge from the bunkers, though I certainly wasn't the first. Scattered throughout strategic points were groups of various assortments of tanks, most lacking leadership. I quickly gathered them together into a makeshift kampfgruppe. As we approached the bottom of the hill the ground beneath our treads turned into dry dust. I looked down in curiosity; now that I thought about it the grass seemed to be dry and dead on our descent down. What kind of power did these bombs have?

My question was answered as the trees suddenly disappeared, their branches ripped away from the trunks. A collective gasp ran throughout the group and nervous murmurs were exchanged. There was the remains of the allied army, scattered as far as my binoculars could see. The tanks were all still and silent, their forms distorted into unrecognizable hunks of metal. An entire wars worth of fighting couldn't prepare us for what happened next. I gave the order to examine the army for any survivors, though we doubted we would find them.

My fears were confirmed when I heard a hull groan. There was no distinguishing what it was. It looked as if it were once a T29, but it could have been a T34 for all I knew. I drove closer cautiously for a better look, to this day I wish I hadn't. His barrel had buried itself deep into the soft ground and was holding him suspended on one pair of tracks. The turret had melted into his hull from the intense heat. Each link had formed into the other; his tracks were one solid piece. I could hear a desperate struggle for breath. I circled to his engine compartment; the vents had sagged down into the engine itself. I lifted my sights to the front of him; I could have sworn I heard something. My drive shaft shuddered from sudden fear, he was still alive. Quickly I drove to the front of him to hear his quiet voice.

At first I couldn't believe what I heard. He was asking… No, he was pleading me to kill him. I backed away in horror; he wasn't asking for help, he was asking for death. "-are you there? Did you hear me? They're still alive!" I hadn't even noticed my radio till now. The tank in front of me continued to beg. Averting my sights I put him out of his misery. "This is Weidner to all tanks… Put them down." I broadcasted.

"For the next two days we continued the grisly process." Fang and Siren had gone deathly silent. "Similar results were reported on the western front." My engine stalled in a sigh. "I got what I wanted… The wunderwaffe did end the war."


	3. Into the New World

"Did he make it?" The Jagdpanther's voice stirred me from my silent thoughts. I gave him with a questioning look. "The Stug trapped in the bunker… Did he make it?" The duo gave me a fearful look. That picked my mood back up and my engines sputtered in a chuckle. "Yes, yes he did." The two let out a relieved sigh. "Many others did not though…" My thoughts returned to that time.

Our headquarters had received the brunt force of the bombs, little to nothing remained. My treads crunched noisily over the ruined ground as I looked for any sign of life. I found the center of the explosion, right in the heart of our operations. I immediately commanded the bergpanzers to begin cleaning any bunker that had been covered by rubble. I observed in silence and offered my help when and where I could. We found the remains of our commanders in the ruins, the tankers responsible for this suffering.

As our cleaning neared one of the larger bunkers our team began to hear desperate high pitched cries for help. It dawned on me in a sudden horror. "It's the children! Redouble your efforts men!" Without a second thought I recalled every abled tanker to come assist. Nearly a week had passed and none of us had even had given them a thought! Word spread like wild fire and soon every tank was there to free our youth. An hour later the door appeared and was opened; inside was the terrified huddled masses of our young tiers. With a collective sob they rushed out into the open overjoyed to be out of the dark bunker. Their sobbing only grew as the outside world presented itself to the huddled mass.

Each young tank was taken to our fuel depot immediately and nursed back to health. Luckily the parents had survived the massacre as well, though not without injury. It would be sometime before the children and their parents could be reunited. They were lucky in that regard. The day we finished our haunting task of putting the suffering tanks to rest, I and my equals ordered a platoon of our fastest recon tanks to each nation's homeland and give them our unconditional surrender. We all knew there was no point in further resistance. Only a few days had passed and much to our surprise they returned, their posture shaken.

The battlefield wasn't the only place to be bombed. In our desperation we had launched multiple rockets into the heart of each nation's homeland, none escaped the violence. We were the only nation to prepare for such an event, the others doubted our capabilities. Where we survived the others were slaughtered. Only small groups of survivors were left, they were all that survived. The world we knew was gone, murdered by the power of the bombs.

As the recon units gave their reports to the survivors, the deepest fear possible descended upon all of us. Many of the light recon tankers had been ambushed by surviving heavies and killed, their supplies raided afterwards. The world had changed for the worse we were beginning to realize. The fuel refining stations had been targets for each nation; we would have to begin again from scratch if there was to be fuel again. Once again we were fortunate; the higher ups had anticipated an attack and built an emergency refinery beneath the surface.

The facility would do for now, producing enough fuel for our survivors with some left over. I found myself quickly unofficially rising through the ranks, being one of only a dozen higher tiered tanks. We were quick to organize an effective defense and early warning system. If word of our operation reached one of these aggressive packs of survivors our fragile way of life could be ripped apart; two of us heavies patrolled the perimeter at all times, four during the night hours.

"For forty years we lived a relatively normal life. Few tankers ever approached us; we looked too much like another ruined city. Those who did though we welcomed in to our home, our past hatred forgotten." My barrel slowly drooped downwards. "It wasn't to last however… Violence would rupture our peace once again."


	4. Downfall

My sights adjusted towards my brothers and my mood lightened somewhat; at least I still had them in my life. The two noticed me staring and returned the favor. For a short while we appreciated one another's presence in silence. "So how did you end up here? What happened to your home?" Fang asked with a somber voice. Was my story finally connecting with him? I could only hope that I would be able to make a positive change in his demeanor. I allowed my chassis to relax heavily on my suspension as I prepared to tell the final to my story.

The generation we had freed from the bunker so long ago had built families of their own. Times were happy and carefree; the outside world didn't seem to exist anymore. Attention to the boarder began to diminish as more young tiers were built. The only ones who seemed to care were us veterans; we knew what the outside held. The young ones quickly bestowed the nickname of 'Paranoid Old Timers' upon us. We knew better though, we kept the vigil and trained the upcoming generation. It would prove to be futile though; our way of life had been too soft.

My Hetzer had risen through the ranks to Jagdpanzer during those long forty years. Tiering up had become increasingly difficult with a significant lack of proper targets to train with. My men never failed to make me proud. In the face impossible odds we progressed as a coherent unit. I never had a more proud day than when they were assigned their own night watch; though there were plenty of nights I kept an eye on them. Our system worked, none came in or out without our knowing. There were things we deemed too unlikely to happen, we were sorely mistaken.

The sun was just beginning to rise and our watches were switching when the faint sound of an engine could be heard. Our sentries reported that a lone light tank was rapidly cutting across the horizon. A familiar red light began to slowly flash in my radio, something felt out of place. The ones that did find us were cautious and wary. Driving to the edge of our innermost defenses I searched for the lone light tank. My binoculars caught the sight of dust; he was driving so fast to bring up a trail of dust. The light began to burn brighter in my radio. I began to broadcast when a voice crackled in my intercom. "This is Wolfgang-" It was our Royal Tiger. "-to the defenses. Keep an eye on that light tank. We don't know what he-"

The light of an explosion flashed in front of us, the hull of a Panzer III began to burn violently. The younger Luchs began to retreat hastily. "He's dead! I couldn't see where the-" His small frame exploded as a second shot ripped through the morning air. Before we could react the hill began to swarm with medium tanks. My shell ripped the turret off an all too familiar T-34 only to be replaced by… One of our own? I held my fire and examined the tank in my sights. There was no doubt, it was a VK 30.01, the all too familiar Porsche turret staring me down. There had to be a mistake of some kind, he had been swept up in the confusion. His barrel flashed and his shell found its mark. The shot bounced harmlessly off my thick mantle, though not without waking me from my stupor.

My binoculars swept over my flanks, our whole defense was here much to my relief. The relief was short lived however; I quickly saw that there was no hope. The invaders mediums had blitzed past our defenses and were slaughtering the outer lines from behind. "Using our own tactics." I realized in horror. I began to send shells down range, years of combat quickly rushed back to me and each shot found their mark; though not all were kill shots. It wasn't long before we began to receive fire of our own. The lower tiers panicked and began to back away. "If you're going to retreat be useful and evacuate the city! There's nothing we can do!" I shouted to them, the enemy's heavies came into view at the base of the hill.

I could faintly hear the tracks disappear into the city over the firefight. Our defenses had claimed many of their mediums; the smoke from their burning wrecks offered some shade from the rising sun's rays. A familiar terror crept into my hull as their battle formation revealed itself before my binoculars. A line of IS heavy tanks lead the way up the hill, supported by Black Princes. Head on our shells would most likely be deflected away harmlessly. I didn't have the time to examine our own forces before their cannons flashed brightly.

With the courage of an age gone by, we veterans began our barrage. My fears were confirmed as their curved armor sent our shells ricocheting away. I cursed the lack of artillery support, it was sorely needed. Had we had it… Things might have turned out differently. Our downfall began when our Royal Tiger's barrel was destroyed, a valuable asset put out of battle. With the courage of our nation he charged their lines, he was destroyed before he could be of use. Our numbers soon began to quickly dwindle. My engine felt like it was on fire, my ammo was running out, and the enemy was becoming more confident with themselves; the heavies opened their lines to allow tank destroyer fire between them.

"A round exploded above us…" My barrel pointed straight ahead expressionless, Siren and Fangs were lowered in intense concentration. "The building collapsed on us… Their mediums crested the hill. I retreated and did not stop." My barrel twitched. "That was the end of civilization." My barrel pointed to Siren and then to Fang, his prominent dent the center of my attention. "Now you know my story."


	5. Devastating Beginnings

The building had collapsed, the Hetzer turned Jagdpanzer was trapped beneath the rubble. The line had broken, we had lost. Firing one last shell I retreated to my Hetzer. Straining my engine to its limit I pushed his unconscious frame from the rubble into the city center. Tankers young and old were in a panic unsure of what to do. I shouted for them to abandon their homes and to find refuge in the forest. I was fortunate to find a bergpanzer during the chaos. Quickly we cabled the unconscious Jagdpanzer to my hauling rings. With a promise to one day return the favor I drove away.

My fuel tank was nearly empty when I finally stopped, the dust from our city could be faintly seen in the horizon. I freed the cables from myself in exhaustion and passed out once again. When I awoke the Jagdpanzer was moaning. I hushed him and drove to his side, he was alive. "Quiet now little one." I said as soothingly as I could, my binoculars examining his hull. The building had dented in his fighting compartment. "I'm here." I rolled up to his flank. "I won't abandon you." My barrel looked to the settling dust of our home. "I'm here for you Rüdiger."


End file.
